Construction projects, both current and forthcoming, are going to reduce available campus parking. More than 150 parking spaces have been eliminated from the campus over the past ten years, Ken Miller, assistant vice president of public safety, said in a campus-wide email that.
Campus Safety has taken several courses of action to maximize available parking and provide new spaces to cope with these changes.
Rollins may be subject to this parking crunch for an indeterminate amount of time.
The renovation of the Rice Family Events Pavilion has made the parallel parking along Cahill Sandspur Field unavailable. Miller said he does not know when it will be reopened.
It is anticipated that the new residence hall project will take the majority of the McKean parking lot offline shortly after first-year students move in.
“There will be a few spaces to support handicap parking and 15-minute spaces to facilitate pick up/drop off, but otherwise parking in this area will be extremely limited,” said Miller.
Certain parking areas have been designated specifically fr residential students, commuters and faculty and staff.
For example, the Hauck Hall parking lot has been designated for students only. The 170 West Fairbanks lot, located next to the Center for Career and Life Planning, is now reserved exclusively for faculty and staff.
One quarter of the Ollie Avenue parking lot has been apportioned to commuter students.
A satellite lot has been established on the corner of West New England Avenue and South Virginia Avenue. Prior to the academic year, free parking decals were offered for a lot on Welbourne Avenue. However, all inquiries for the Welbourne lot have been relocated to the West New England Avenue lot. There are a total of 48 parking spots there.
Any students interested in the satellite lot were required to contact Campus Safety prior to the start of the academic year. All students were eligible for access to this lot.
Students who reserved a spot should go to the Campus Safety office to retrieve their parking tag. Only those with a tag are permitted to park there.
Campus Safety has also asked the City of Winter Park to allow college parking in the Welbourne Avenue parking lot. This parking lot is located next to the Crummer graduate apartments on Welbourne Avenue, one block west of Central Park. Site improvements have recently been made to this lot, creating parking for more than 70 vehicles.
Campus Safety should hear back if approval to use the space has been granted or not by Aug. 27.
To ensure the safety of students who park in these satellite lots, Miller said, “Campus Safety will have additional part-time staff on during the evening hours to support additional calls for escorts to this location.”
Two other nearby locations have given permission for their parking lots to be used for college parking: Keke’s Breakfast Cafe, located on Fairbanks Avenue, and the All Saints Church, located at the end of East Lyman Avenue.
The All Saints Church parking lot is available from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Friday. This lot can hold about 70 vehicles.
The Keke’s parking lot is also available from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Friday and can hold about 50 vehicles.
Campus Safety asks that all students be kind and courteous to the various owners who have graciously allowed for the college to use their parking lots.
Efforts have also been made to maximize space in the SunTrust parking garage. “We have improved the electric vehicle charging station on the first floor and have removed all boat trailers that were taking up space on the fourth floor,” said Miller.
The Campus Safety Parking regulations for the SunTrust Parking Garage have remained unchanged and can be found on the Campus Safety website.
College-owned trailers, buses, and vehicles have also been removed from campus parking south of Fairbanks Avenue, such as as the Sutton Apartments parking lot. There are also some spaces in the SunTrust parking garage for scooters and motorcycles.
Students can help relieve some of the stress caused by this parking shortage. It is recommended that students who live within a half-mile of the college leave their cars at home and instead consider walking, riding a bicycle, skateboarding, or taking a scooter.
Rollins offers a Campus Bicycle Program, where students can borrow a bicycle for free for three days at a time, with an option to extend the loan to six days. In order to do so, students should visit the Olin Library circulation desk.
Students have also been encouraged to consider the SunRail, Lynx buses, rideshare options, or carpooling as possible alternatives to their transportation needs.
A campus map depicting the existing construction areas and designated parking lots can be found on the Campus Safety section of the Rollins website.
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